It was recently revealed that weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared classified attack plans in a Signal chat with a journalist, he did it again. This time, the chat included his wife and brother.
Immediately, speculation over whether Hegseth would remain in the Trump administration for the long term began to formulate, with news outlets reporting that the Trump administration was looking to move on from him as head of the Department of Defense.
The Trump administration quickly denied these rumors, which I tend to believe, but I also know it's not likely to happen. As much as I dislike Hegseth and think he should be fired and should have never been appointed, he is still everything he was when Trump selected him: a good communicator who is unqualified to lead the Pentagon. Even still, there is little incentive for Trump to abandon him so quickly.
Americans shouldn't expect the revolving door of Cabinet members that was commonplace in the first Trump administration. His increased power over the Republican Party reduces the likelihood of frequent firings, even if this Cabinet is more outlandish.
Whether it be Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Hegseth, incompetence isn't a trait that is punished in a Trump administration. It's actually ignored as long as these Cabinet members remain loyal. Nothing else matters to Trump and, increasingly, Republican leaders.
Despite the mishandling of classified information in Signal chats, which has created news stories critical of Trump, these hardly qualify as scandals in the grand scheme of the Trump world. It helps that Hegseth has been busy doing Trump's work with the military, such as firing three DOD employees who were speaking to the news media without authorization.
On April 24, Hegseth's chief of staff, Joe Kasper, became the fourth top official to be fired or reassigned in the past week amid political turmoil at the Pentagon.
Trump supporters easily brush off criticisms of Hegseth's poor decision-making and dismiss valid criticism as a "hoax," or at least downplay it. After all, it's what Hegseth and other administration officials did in response to the Signal story.
Hegseth is a true MAGA culture warrior in the Department of Defense. From reinstating the name of Fort Bragg (notably after a different Bragg), to advancing the removal of transgender service members, he is able to create all the right headlines for Trump's administration.
It also helps that Hegseth's objective of restoring a "warrior culture" to the DOD appeals to traditional conservatives like me.
Most important, though, he has no problem being combative with the mainstream news media, which Trump obviously adores.
Trump faced an uphill battle to get Hegseth confirmed, and replacing him would be no easy political sell. For now, Hegseth's benefit to the administration outweighs the negative press he is creating. It's not until the scales shift against him that Hegseth needs to worry. Until then, he's fine to stay incompetent as long as he also stays loyal.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.